DC: War
by LarrySmythe
Summary: A mysterious force has begun killing heroes all over the world, and the villains are stepping up. Will the heroes discover the killer? Wait and watch in this thrilling new, no-holds-barred, all-out war between the forces of good and evil. Don't worry - all your favorite heroes and villains are stepping up to the ring in this new story!
1. Chapter 1

_Hey guys, this is my first story. I had an idea to pit as many DC heroes against as many villains as I can, and still make it a good story. Enjoy. I do not own the rights to DC Comics. I don't intend to bring in the Multiverse, so do not ask. This also features LOTS of DC Rebirth content, so I suggest you look into that if you haven't._

Bruce Wayne sat in the pew, ever so somber looking. It was hard to tell that this was real emotion this time, since he rarely cracked a smile - most of his friends would have forgotten he had a remotely human personality if they didn't see him acting like a drunken playboy on TV every other day. However, they knew it was for real - as they all carried similar looks on their faces. They were sitting at the funeral of Sylvester Pemberton, AKA Skyman. While he had always been a D-list hero not even recognized by the denizens of the fifteen square blocks he defended, he was a dear friend to many in the pews, and a respected coworker to those who hadn't known him.

After the funeral, Bruce was interrupted by Clark tapping on his shoulder.

"Do you know who did this? He may have not been that powerful of a hero, but Sylvester was a smart man, and he had that nifty belt thing too. Yet something just ripped him up like he was a chew toy. I'm worried, Bruce, we haven't got a hint who did this, and they have no motive. They might strike again."

Bruce thought for a second, before replying:

"We don't know who did this, no. However, I've got The Question looking into leads. The Ray did a light-spectrum analysis, and came up empty. Swamp Thing and Animal Man couldn't detect traces of the Green or the Red, so this was a normal human in that aspect. Zatanna didn't find anything unusual in the magic spectrum, and Martian Manhunter did a quick mind scan of everyone within fifty miles of the crime scene - no one had any idea Skyman had been murdered, which means the culprit didn't stick around, and was thus not a local. Batgirl traced the dark web, and didn't find anyone hiring an assassin. The Atom shrunk down to microscopic levels and found no evidence. We've came up empty in every possible way. I just don't know what to do, even Vic and Ralph are stumped."

Clark frowned, and his eyebrows furrowed as he sank deep into thought. His eyes suddenly lit up, and asked:

"You've mentioned multiple ways the culprit could have killed Skyman, but you have still come up empty. Why don't you travel back in time? Tell Barry he doesn't have to change anything, just observe. Have you thought of that yet?"

"Well, now that you say so, we haven't. I can go ask Barry, but he might be a bit iffy. I'll text him now."

The millisecond Bruce sent Barry the text, Barry materialized behind Bruce and Clark. He suddenly spoke, making Clark jump. Bruce simply frowned.

"I don't think this is smart, Bruce. Sure, I'm not doing anything, but what if the assailant sees me? What if I can't resist the temptation to save Skyman?"

"You've done it before, Barry. Remember when you went back and watched your mother die?"

"Not cool, Bruce. Not cool. But I do suppose you have a point. I guess I'll go do that right now."

Barry sped off, leaving Bruce and Clark in the dust. Suddenly, Bruce's Justice League communicator lit up with a call from Wonder Woman.

"Bruce, I... come here. Bring Clark and Barry."

Without another word, Barry grabbed Bruce and sped over at lightning speed. Clark, tried to keep up the best he could, but still arrived many seconds later than Barry. They were in a rather upscale neighborhood, outside a fancy house.

"Guys, come inside. It's Lee."

The four heroes, now in their costumes, stepped inside to the sight of the dead body of Crimson Avenger and his sidekick, Wing How. While Skyman's corpse had still been in perfect shape, the two heroes both had rather messy holes in their chest. Batman leaned down to check their skin temperature.

"They're still warm. This happened very recently. Barry, you've got another person to check up on."

Wonder Woman furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but Superman quickly caught her up. She reluctantly nodded.

"Alright, guys. Well, I guess I'll be going now."

Barry zoomed out the door, faster than the naked eye could register. He hopped on the Cosmic Treadmill and shot back through time, a process he was very familiar with, to his chagrin. Soon he was gone, within the vast (and very confusing) vortex of time.

Three hours later, in the underwater base of the Legion of Doom.

"You're insane! How could you possibly condone this? I thought we had a code here, Luthor!"

Doctor Destiny, a D-list villain, screamed in rage as he followed Lex Luthor out of the LOD courtroom. Deadline, also known as "The Human Weapon," had stolen his kill - or so Doctor Destiny claimed.

"Listen, John, you have no proof that Deadline did anything out of line. You haven't provided a contract, you haven't provided a witness, you haven't provided the name of the person who hired you, the only thing you've provided is your word, which, frankly, is not much after you falsely accused Cyclotron and got him the death sentence. You're lucky we didn't kill you for that, but his heart was never in the business, so you got a lucky pass. And why are you doing bounty hunting anyways? You were never that type of villain."

"Luthor, I already told you! I need funds to fix my Materioptikon! It wasn't a toy, you know. I broke into S.T.A.R. Labs to get it fixed, and now I don't have any equipment to fix it. So, I need money. Is that so hard to under-"

Before Doctor Destiny finished his sentence, his head was blown off with a loud bang. An irritated Luthor looked towards the source of the gunfire - Deadshot, who was playing with a Luger pistol.

"That pistol may look nice, but it isn't exactly the best. Not bad, but I'd take a Glock any day - any Glock. Oh, and you're on janitor duty today. Your punishment for killing Doctor Destiny."

"Aw, come on, Lex. You know you hated John anyways. Also, my Luger is my business, not yours. Glocks are too easy. A professional needs a weapon with a learning curve."

"Show off. Who said anything about learning curves? it's simply not the best gun. And I did hate John, which is why you aren't dead right now. We need to keep a semblance of order around here - we're crime bosses, not anarchists."

"Says the person with a man named 'Anarky' on his payroll. Say, we've been lying low for months now. When are we going to do anything? All I've been doing is the occasional hit, because you keep threatening to send Slade after me if I do anything. How do you know he hasn't been taking jobs behind your back? A man needs money, you know."

"First, Anarky is a tool, nothing more. A tool who is also keeping my rules, might I add, and has been far less of a nuisance than you. Sad day when you're more annoying than a Socialist wannabe. As for the other part, well, I have my reasons. Oh, and Slade has been keeping loyal, because I give him his jobs. You think everyone has happily decided to lie low? Why do you think you haven't seen Double Dare in weeks?"

"...Oh. But you'd better let me at someone soon - I've been meaning to buy my daughter and my ex-wife a new house."

"Ok, ok. Trust me, after my plans are over, you'll have all the contracts you want."

Without further ado, Lex turned and stepped into his office. He walked past a dartboard, a dartboard covered in cut-outs of... superheroes? Lex sat down at his ivory-sculpted desk, and pulled out a small picture. He let out a small grin at the sight of his target.

"Adios, superhero friends. It's time to step it up a notch."


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for the positive reception on chapter one, everyone! I'm definitely going to try to up the stakes a bit in the future, since there's a whole storyline I'm eager to explore. However, I'm not going to take it too fast. I also am going to try to make it campier (and/or darker), because I personally enjoy that format of comic, but I'm not going overboard with it._

"This is Martian Manhunter from the Justice League Watchtower, calling to all available members. This order shall be relayed to junior teams. We have recently detected a metahuman trafficking ring operating out of Markovia. Evidence strongly suggests the involvement of Baron Bedlam and the Bad Samaritan, both of whom recently escaped from a prison in Tbilisi. Available units please respond."

Martian Manhunter stared at his computer screen, watching intently for responses. Justice League members were pinpointed on a 3D globe, and upon the stroke of a few keys members of other organizations such as the Teen Titans or Outsiders would also pop up.

"This is Batman. I am currently tracking Killer Croc through the sewers. Have you contacted Geo-Force?"

"No, Batman. Geo-Force has not replied to the call I just sent out. But now that I have you on the line, I was meaning to ask if you've been noticing a decline in super-crime. These days I only notice street thugs while patrolling Middletown."

"Yes, Martian Manhunter, I have. But upon further study, I found that the crime rates aren't declining, they're simply becoming more… controlled, standardized, almost. It's almost like the supervillains teamed up and monopolized crime."

"Interesting, Batman. I will look into it. Goodbye."

Batman hung up and continued prowling the sewers. He came to a sewer exit that emptied into Gotham Harbor. But while a normal hero would curse his luck and turn away, Batman noticed something – the bars, while wide, weren't wide enough for Killer Croc to slip through. Wary of an attack, he activated his transponder beam and continued searching. As he slunk back through the sewers, he noticed a loose brick.

"Interesting… This brick is four inches out, unusual for this tunnel – it's only been three years since they remodeled it, and this seems… unnatural…"

Batman touched the brick, and it automatically pushed inwards, only for the entire wall to slide open.

"What? There's no way Croc built this himself… who's helping him?"

At this moment a beam of ice blasted right past Batman's head.

"Mr. Freeze. Still not one for subtleties, I see." Batman growled as he flung Batarangs in the direction of the beam, only to hear a dull "thunk."

"You forgot me, Bats." Killer Croc's hulking figure emerged from the shadows, glimmering Batarangs sticking out from his hide. Mr. Freeze followed behind him, as well as… Two-Face?

Batman smirked. "Heh. A three-in-one deal. I've been tracking you three for a while now. Come quietly, or else."

"Or else what?" Two-Face laughed. "It's three to one, Batman. You can't do anything against us."

Batman started running towards the trio, drawing weapons from his utility belt. "Actually, I can. You see, one of you is vulnerable without your sub-zero suit -" Batman proceeded to throw an EMP grenade at Mr. Freeze – "One of you simply sucks at fighting -" Batman downed Two-Face with a right hook – "And one of you is vulnerable to lack of foresight."

At this moment Robin dropped down from the roof of the secret room, executing a perfect kick to Killer Croc's face and knocking the villain out.

"Nice job, father. You distracted them perfectly."

"Heh. I've been doing this a lot longer than you have, kid."

Robin scowled, though those close to him would have known he was hiding a smile.

After the two deposited the three villains at Arkham Asylum, Batman's communicator lit up.

"Justice League, this is The Atom… signal… Skyman… blood flow… nan"

The signal went dark. Batman and Robin looked at each other alarmedly – or at least, the Bat-Family version of alarm.

"Robin, grab the Teen Titans. I'll grab what I can of the Justice League. Watchtower, as soon as you can."

"Yes, sir."

"Justice League, this is Batman. All available units to the Watchtower NOW."

Batman quickly teleported up to the Watchtower, where he met a haphazardly organized group of heroes.

"I see everyone's here. What do we know about The Atom's last transmission? Hourman, anything? Spy Smasher? Elongated Man?"

Elongated Man cleared his throat.

"Yes, Bruce, I have something. Ray was investigating the death of Skyman, we all know that. He mentioned a signal, likely referring to his transponder signal, which was damaged. He said 'blood flow', which I think refers to Sylvester's blood. We know he was in there investigating that. But I noticed something interesting. Cyborg, play Ray's message back."

Cyborg tapped a few keys, and a recording started playing.

"Justice League, this is The Atom… signal… Skyman… blood flow… nan"

"Everyone, if you listen carefully, he says nothing I didn't. But what is exceptionally interesting is the last 0.7 seconds of the recording. He says 'nan' before being cut off. So, I started thinking to myself, what does 'nan' mean? He didn't finish what he was saying, obviously, but Bruce, I think you know what I'm referring to here. We worked on this case before."

Batman thought for a second, before scowling furiously.

"Nanobots. That's what The Atom was trying to say."

"Precisely. And who's the only people with advanced enough technology to create nanobots that can flow through someone's bloodstream _and_ attack a living being on their own?"

" _ **Lexcorp**_."


	3. Chapter 3

_Again, thanks for the positive response. I was meaning to say that I don't intend to bring in the entire Green Lantern Corps either, or the Legion of Super Heroes. I prefer one-on-one superhero-villain fights. Thanks, and enjoy! And before you say anything, Elasti-Girl IS A DC SUPERHERO. Disney actually had to specially obtain permission from DC to use the name._

"I should have known that Lex Luthor was behind this. I wonder what he's up to. At least we know how Skyman died. J'onn, Any info on Crimson Avenger?"

"Unfortunately, not, Batman. His death was not due to nanobots, or at least ones we can detect. We still don't know the reason."

"Well, that's not the problem right now. We need to save Ray. Call up Bumblebee, and any other shrinking heroes we have. This is a rescue op."

Thirty minutes later, a group of shrinking heroes had assembled in the Watchtower.

"Bumblebee, Molecule Plastic Man, Offspring, Elasti-Girl. We have prepared special blood-proof suits for you. You guys are responsible for entering Skyman's bloodstream and saving The Atom. Understood?"

Elongated Man quickly stretched over and whispered into Batman's ear.

"Ah. Ralph thinks you guys should bring back a destroyed nanobot or two so we can analyze them. And don't worry, Sylvester's body won't decompose on you. We made sure of that, had Ice come over and freeze it. That's why his blood circulation will be extremely slow. Elongated Man could go with you, but he is staying behind on overwatch duties."

The five heroes nodded and got to work. Bumblebee shrunk down and carried a shrunken Molecule into a cut that Batman had opened up to allow access to the bloodsteam. Plastic Man, Offspring, and Elasti-Girl stretched into Skyman's nostrils, Plastic Man turning into a microscopic moon rover. Elongated Man got up and went to check on the cameras attached on each hero's body.

"Are cams up and running smoothly, J'onn?"

"Yes, Mr. Dibny. All cameras functioning well."

"That's good. Batman has assembled the Justice League, yes?"

"Correct. Batman is leading an infiltration of the Lexcorp building. Wait a second- Superman, you doing good down there?"

"Affirmative, J'onn. My X-ray vision is showing no abnormalities. Luthor is not in his office. Or the building. Or Metropolis, or New York state, or America, or North America, or… the world? Do you have the tracker we last slapped on him, J'onn?"

"Yes, I do – hmm. It's being interfered with, like some weird… undersea interference?"

"Interesting. Aquaman, do you have an idea of where Luthor is?"

"No, Superman. None of my animal friends have reported seeing any unusual submersibles, though one anglerfish is reporting a dome in the Mariana Trench. Luthor must have gone all out."

"Very interesting, but not surprising. I'll have Batman bring the Bat-Sub around."

Meanwhile, in the Watchtower laboratory.

"How's everyone doing in there? Karen, give me a heads up."

"Everything is going smoothly, Ralph. Molecule and I have no sign of Atom yet. We did just find a suspicious piece of black debris, almost… electronic. The piece has letters on it but is incomplete. It says 'WA,' but that's it."

"Hmm…. Interesting. Eel, Luke, Rita? Any new discoveries?"

"This is Elasti-Girl, Ralph. I have not discovered anything abnormal."

"Offspring reporting in. I, uh, haven't noticed anything – have I? – no, I haven't. No, nothing to report."

"This is Plastic Man. I have located precisely noth – wait! I see a nanobot! And it's active! Engaging now."

Plastic Man proceeded to stop talking, and Ralph awkwardly listened for several minutes as Eel made exaggerated kung-fu noises and the occasional TIE fighter screech (for some reason), still unsure if Eel was actually making any progress, or if he had even engaged. Suddenly a pinky emerged from Skyman's nose, shaped like a ball. It then felt around for a few seconds (awkwardly brushing Ralph in the process), which cued more than a few odd looks from superheroes passing in the halls that happened to glance in the window. Finally, Plastic Man dumped what appeared to be nothing onto a laboratory table and pressed a button which caused a glass cage to spring into place around the tabletop. A screen above the table slowly zoomed in, revealing a small black drone confusedly jetting around the enclosure.

"This is Offspring. I'm glad you got your drone, but Atom is nowhere to be found. I've scoured every capillary, every vein, every artery. Nothing. Ask Bumblebee and them, nothing either. Good news is there's no body or ripped off limbs or ominous scraps of his costume either."

"Well, that's not good. The drones probably kidnapped him and flew out. But if they did it here, doesn't that mean they're still on the Watchtower?"

"Possibly. We'll come out and keep searching for miniature clues around the body, but there's no way we'll cover even a fraction of the ship. You need to find a more efficient way."

"Hmm. J'onn, can you run an electromagnetic search of the Watchtower? Every nook and cranny, J'onn. NOTHING can be left unsearched. Also, get me Mr. Terrific. I need him to analyze our captured nanobot."

"On it, Ralph. Hmm… search is producing nothing, nothing at all. I checked Watchtower teleportation logs, but there were no activations, not even tiny nanobots."

"Understood. What are all possible ways they could have gotten off this ship? They couldn't have escaped the airlock, and Atom can't breathe in vacuum anyways – they somehow teleported from inside this ship."

"Let's see here… There have been no boom tube energy fluctuations, so we can rule that out… The Ray has confirmed they didn't find a way to teleport with light… but they could have been teleported with magic. I'm calling up Zatanna now to search for magical fluctuations."

"That's good, thank you."

Meanwhile, on the US East Coast…

"Superman, I have called in the Bat-Sub. You, Aquaman, and Green Lantern can each find ways to travel underwater on your own, so you'll be fine. I'll bring Wonder Woman and Cyborg, and Flash still isn't back yet, which is strange, but whatever."

"Affirmative, Batman. League, let's meet at the dive point."

As the members of the Justice League gathered at the beach, they were surprised by a bright flash of lightning. The Flash jumped out of the Speed Force, blurring his body to the point where he was a red blur with yellow eyes, no doubt the lightning from the Speed Force.

"Oh, hey, Barry, you're back. Did you find the killer of Crimson Avenger? We already figured out who killed Skyman, but we still –"

"BATMAN! I trusted you! Listen here, heroes – I travelled back in time, and the killer of Crimson Avenger is none other than BRUCE WAYNE!"


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter four, everyone! Once again, I'm appreciative of the positive feedback. I stand by my decision to not bring any major teams like the GLs into the fray, but I'll provide an explanation for that in-universe. Oh, and a little tip – connect the country dots, and you'll get a little teaser of the next few chapters!_

"I'm sorry Barry, I must be mistaken. Are you saying _I_ killed Crimson Avenger?"

"Don't try to hide it, Batman. I know you did it. I watched you give Lee a brooch five days ago, which he wore to Skyman's funeral! I then watched you activate a signal, and Crimson Avenger just collapsed and died!"

"That's ridiculous, Barry. I don't have that kind of technology. Black Lightning and Air Wave didn't pick up any type of electromagnetic energy at all, how could I possibly have done that?"

"You're Batman. You always have a card up your sleeve."

Barry looked around, gesturing at the Justice League.

"Don't you remember? He has the ability to thwart us, he develops tech to counter us without us knowing! The Kryptonite weaponry he developed in secret? How about when his contingencies blinded Kyle? The nanites that burned J'onn? Inducing aquaphobia in Arthur? He has the capability to defeat any of us without us knowing!"

Superman and the rest of the League looked suspiciously at Batman, but also at Flash. Green Lantern finally decided to speak up, filling the awkward void of silence, though not exactly with what everyone was expecting.

"Hey Barry, why are you still vibrating? I know you think it looks cool and all, but it's been minutes already. We know what your suit looks like."

"Can't, Hal. This renders me intangible, and if you don't remember, last time Wally was struck by a bullet that gave him seizures. And Batman doesn't exactly look ecstatic right now."

"Oh, come on, Barry, don't you think that's a little bit par-"

 _BOOM._ A massive explosion shook the ground, sending massive shockwaves towards the small city of Bayboro, North Carolina, which was where the League was gathered. Batman quickly dismissed the ongoing dispute, and started barking out orders.

"Aquaman, control those waves! Hurry up, there isn't much time! Green Lantern, create a barricade! Superman, use your heat vision to evaporate as much water as you possibly can! Wonder Woman, Cyborg, you're on civilian protection duty. Round the citizens up, and Cyborg, prepare to boom everyone out of here if things go south. Flash – wait a second, where is Flash?"

But the League hadn't heard him – they were too busy rushing to perform their respective tasks. The shockwaves weren't as extreme as expected, and Aquaman managed to quell the seas without any property damage or civilian casualties. Batman tried to track Flash, but Flash's signal wasn't responding. "OK everyone, Flash has vanished. There's a good chance he's doing recon, but we need to be careful. Wait a minute, he's showing up on my tracker again in… wait a minute… Iran… Nepal… Japan… Uruguay… Somalia… Turkmenistan… Indonesia… Egypt… Lesotho… Eritrea… Andorra…Guinea… Uzbekistan… Estonia… Is he just running randomly across the world? What is he doing? Wait a minute… he's suddenly disappeared…"

"What is it, Batman?"

"Nothing, Cyborg. Nothing yet. But we're distracted. Come on, we need to find the source of that explosion. Let's head down to Luthor's underwater base. Who knows what he's planning down there. Hope we're not too late, that sounded like a cover for an escape."

Meanwhile, in Luthor's underwater base…

"Of course, President Xi. Yes, I would love to meet to discuss the terms of Lexcorp partnering with Baidu. No tech stealing this time? Good, I'll take your word for it. Bye now."

Lex Luthor smiled, and absently tapped a few numbers into his hidden holographic keypad. The door sprung open, revealing an assembled group of supervillains, who were exhibiting a range of facial emotions from wariness to confusion to anger.

"Hello, everyone, and welcome to my new Injustice League. I see we've got quite the lineup here – The Joker, Cheetah, Captain Cold, Sinestro, Black Manta, Malefic, and Anomaly. Malefic and Anomaly, you two are new to the lineup. Archenemies of Martian Manhunter and Cyborg, am I correct? Of course I am. Everyone, I have assembled you here today to declare my new world-dominating plan – the Crime Union! You will each be the crime overlords of your respective cities – or, specifically, your _nemesis'_ respective cities. Black Manta, I realize that isn't super fair to you, so you get Atlantis as well as Amnesty Bay. Any more questions? Yes, Captain Cold."

"So, I couldn't help but wonder who the _other_ Crime Lords are – there are only eight of us, after all. And there are a few more cities in the world than that."

"Ah, yes. Don't worry, I have Crime Lords in most other cities. For example, Dark Archer is on his way to Star City right now. Brother Blood has assumed control of Jump City. But you guys are the main Injustice."

"Sounds like a proper bureaucracy right here. Hope you can keep it together."

"I will, Cold. I will. I have… contingencies for if they betray me. Remember Jewel and Punch? The Ventriloquist? Harlequin? Ever noticed that they've dropped off the grid? Yeah. Them, and many others more."

Captain Cold said nothing, but gave an icy smirk. Luthor ignored him and proceeded to talk.

"Now, each of your nemesis' have substantial rogues galleries. Some more than others, but each quite a few. You can pick and choose supervillains, and apply them wherever you see fit. But be wary of making them too mad – they're still fully capable of taking you out with enough anger and time. Chronos has taken his batch already, but don't feel rushed. Take all the time you want. Oh, and the few criminals that don't belong to a rogues gallery will be free for any of you to pick from. Some might need coaxing, so be patient."

Right as he finished his sentence, shrill alarms started to sound all over the secret base.

"Ah, I see our friends are here. Don't worry, our boom tubes – courtesy of Darkseid himself – will transport us to our moon base. Don't worry about your underlings, they have individual transporters that will drag them there whether they like it or not."

The boom tube then activated, and the villains piled through. A few seconds after the boom tube closed, the heroes came storming into Lex's office.

"Where _are_ they? I could have sworn they would be here… How could they be gone? It looks like they've been here recently…"

"They have, Superman. Very recently. And they appear to have left a few clues."

Batman pointed to the wall. On a tack board were small polaroid pictures of each of the fallen heroes in what seemed like a hitlist. There were pictures of Skyman and Crimson Avenger, both with red "X"s through the middle, but Batman also noticed a few other pictures tacked onto the board. The Atom had a red check through his picture, and there were red question marks through a few heroes – Crimson Fox, Freedom Beast, Tasmanian Devil, The Flash…

Batman squinted at the board, but Cyborg distracted him.

"Batman, I'm picking up an energy signature. Someone boomed out of here a minute or two ago. It explains how they escaped, but how did they get access to New God technology? They must have Darkseid on their side. This just got really complicated. And don't worry about those pictures – I'll send The Streak over to warn the heroes in those pictures."

Green Lantern suddenly chimed in from over at Luthor's desk: "Wait, who's The Streak?"

"You don't know? Oh, you were on Ysmault, huh… The Streak is Wally's alter ego now. He changed it because it's confusing having two Flashes. Wallace is still Kid Flash."

"Ugh, and I thought Batman's family was confusing – hey!"

Aquaman accidentally shoved Green Lantern, which caused Green Lantern to slip and hit a hidden… button? A holographic display popped up, with the profile of a supervillain open. Batman rushed over and shoved Green Lantern aside, staring at the display.

"Dwarfstar, AKA Sylbert Rundine… enemy of The Atom… currently affiliated with Chronos."

Batman quickly exited out of the file, finding a huge number of files on supervillains.

"Goldface, AKA Keith Kenyon… enemy of Green Lantern… currently affiliated with Sinestro."

"Plastique, AKA Bette Sans Souci… enemy of Captain Atom… currently affiliated with Major Force."

"Electrocutioner, AKA Lester Buchinsky… enemy of Batman… currently affiliated with The Joker."

Batman scrolled through more and more, finding thousands upon thousands of files within the system.

"These are all the supervillains we've ever known. Some appear to have been killed, but they're all working together. The smaller villains are working for a very small number of villains, each the archnemesis of a major hero. It's a full-on crime society."

Batman quickly called J'onn through his mental connection.

"J'onn, this is a code red. I want every hero that has ever existed in the Watchtower. ALL of them. This is not a drill – this is war."


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5! I'm finally getting to do the real stuff here. If my writing seemed rushed before, it was because I wanted to get to the good stuff as fast as possible. Note that I do not have an ending in sight, which might make this a bit tedious in later chapters. I'm also renaming Wally West on my own, I think that his current comic name {just "The Flash"} is really annoying and obviously confusing, note that_ _ **this is not his ACTUAL official DC Comics name, just my own renaming.**_ _Enjoy._

Batman surveyed the newly gathered superheroes. There were hundreds if not nearly one thousand, and he had noticed quite a few weren't even there yet. However, this was quite impressive for an immediate response, which is why Batman thought no more of it. He stood at the podium in the Hall of Justice (The Watchtower gathering had only been temporary), with a small group of motley heroes up there with him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have gathered you all here today to inform you of a Code Red situation. You all know of the deaths of Skyman and Crimson Avenger, and The Atom has recently disappeared. We lost contact with The Flash a few days back, but the Watchtower indicates he is still moving around freely and simply doesn't want to talk to us right now, presumably because he thinks I killed Crimson Avenger. The reason for these deaths and disappearances is a massive crime spike. Lex Luthor has somehow completely organized all super-villainous crime, with something of a crime hierarchy going on."

Batman then turned and walked over to the other heroes up on the podium with him.

"We have decided to organize you into a few different teams. Zatanna here will be the leader of the magic division. I will be the head of the logistics and tactical division. Superman will be the head of the tank division (Hal was in charge of naming), The Blur – that's Wally West's new name, for who didn't know – will be in charge of the scout division, and Cyborg will be in charge of the tech division. We're willing to switch people around and even create brand new divisions, so stay on your feet. This is war."

As Batman finished, Kid Flash shot into the room.

"Batman, it's awful! I… I went and did what you said and found the people who aren't here but… but I -"

"Slow down, Kid Flash. What happened? What did you find?"

"I found as many heroes as I could. Fire and Ice are dead, Batman, and so are Firehawk and Crimson Fox. I managed to rescue Robotman, Wildcat, and Argent, and the rest of the heroes are doing just fine, they all had excuses for not coming. Ethan Avery was assassinated while unconscious after turning back from Damage, so we only have one Damage now, and he doesn't hit as hard."

"Hey!" A muffled protest came from the other Damage, and Superboy shot him an amused look.

Batman scowled even more than he already was scowling before turning back to the other heroes.

"This isn't good. They are after us. The only good news to come out of this is the fact that they've only taken out a few lower skilled heroes, as heartless as that sounds. People, you know who you are, let's get cracking. We're going to take this one city at a time if we have to."

Batman called a few heroes into a private back room for a security briefing.

"Alright everyone, we need as much help as we can possibly get. GL?"

Hal Jordan shook his head, his matted hair ruffled from a quick two-hour nap in the morning before getting right back to work.

"Sorry, Batman. The GL Corps is working on repairing the Source Wall, remember? We're already stretched pretty thin – we've had to face off raids by the Red Lantern Corps. Thankfully, we just dealt them a massive blow, and in the meantime Penelops managed to capture Larfleeze. So that's one Corps off the grid and another Corps reeling from their wounds. However, that doesn't change the fact that we can't help much. I'm the best you got."

"Understood, GL. Thank you guys for the help, it's nice to know Atrocitus won't be coming here – we don't need any more people to worry about. Mister Miracle, what is New Genesis' position?"

"Huh? Right, sorry Bats. Like GL, we're stretched thin. This would be what – the 590,764th war we've had with Apokolips? But don't worry, we managed to capture the Female Furies. They aren't going anywhere, much less Earth. I can get Orion to come help, but us two are the only help you're getting."

"Any help is useful, Scott. Wally, you were sent to negotiate with other Earthly forces, how did that go?"

"I'm afraid it didn't go great, Bats. The Immortal Men are waist deep in a bloody war with the Immortal Woman, the Challengers are not up for combat, but at least the Sea Devils are willing to act as paramilitary scouts for us, despite their lack of powers."

"Oh, well, good enough, I guess. Wally, I want you to gather your forces and get to Star City as fast as you can. The people haven't figured out there's anything unusual going on yet, so let's put this down as quickly as it started. Gather your loved ones and bring them to my moon base for protective custody if you deem it necessary."

The Blur quickly nodded and sped out. Green Arrow burst in with a bad look on his face.

"So, _tactical leader_ , it seems you've sent the scout division to Star City. Must I wait for you here, or do I have your _permission_ to go and defend my own damn city?"

Batman thought for a second, then looked at Green Arrow and nodded.

"Go on, Ollie, go help. Bring whoever you want from our division, but clear it with other division heads if you're grabbing one of theirs."

Green Arrow gave Batman a strange expression before walking out. On the way he grabbed Black Canary, Arsenal, Red Arrow, Arrowette, and Speedy before hopping in the (now slightly crammed) Arrowplane and taking off.

Batman sighed before contacting Wally on the coms.

"Blur, have you arrived in Star City? What's your status? I'll send you the list of criminals working under Dark Archer. See if you can help the SCPD with any street crimes while you're at it."

"Understood, Batman. I'm currently here with Kid Flash, Impulse, and The Ray. Other heroes are on their way. We just spotted Harm assaulting a citizen, we're on the case."

Batman frowned, despite the news that his plan was working. He still felt an impending danger, but he couldn't seem to place it…

 **Meanwhile, in Star City.**

"Kid Flash, flank him! Ray, throw him off his feet! Impulse, don't let him get away!"

Wally West barked out orders as he whizzed around Star City Park, beating up and capturing various thugs that were assisting Harm in what appeared to be a hostage taking operation. Many of the criminals had previously been part of The Dragon's criminal gang, which gave Wally some satisfaction – at least the organized criminals were being taken out just as quickly as the supervillains. As he finished tying up the last thug, he turned around to see Kid Flash deliver a satisfying uppercut to Harm's chin, followed by a full power blast to the chest by The Ray.

"Thank you, gentlemen, I'll take it from here. I've got a high security prison on Lian Yu with Harm's name on it. Why don't you check out the Warehouse District? I heard Damien Darkh set up shop there."

Wally turned in surprise to see Green Arrow emerge from the shadows, followed by Black Canary.

"Ollie? I thought you would have been patrolling yourself, not here."

"I was, captured Onomatopoeia in Lamb Valley. Decided to see how you boys were doing."

"Where's the rest of your Arrow-Family?"

"Picked up a lead. They're after Los Halcones. Hopefully they'll get lucky and catch them in a turf war with the Culebras or something so we can bag them both. Those two gangs have been a pain in our side for a while now."

Wally nodded and suddenly spotted something out the corner of his eye. Within a second he had disappeared and returned, this time with a heavily tattooed criminal wrapped like a Christmas present. Green Arrow looked shocked, but grinned wider than the Pacific Ocean.

"Hello, Ricardo – or should we call you The Dragon now?"

The man looked up at Oliver with fury in his eyes.

"Green Arrow. I'm telling you nothing – Merlyn appointed me as his right-hand man for a reason."

"Oh really? I'm sure he trusts you _very_ much, Ricardo, so much that he appointed you to be in charge of his drug and racketeering operations. And you've handled that so admirably, haven't you? My friends here have already blown 7 cocaine storage houses sky high, and your little gang of thugs here is going into custody – including Harm, a full-blown supervillain. Dark Archer must simply adore you, huh? He'd never decide you're an abject failure and decide to silence you before you spill the beans, not at all. You're too successful to risk killing, aren't you?"

The Dragon looked up at Green Arrow with fear in his eyes, but it vanished in a split second.

"Never. I hunted down and captured a few heroes, you know – just like you. You don't scare me."

Green Arrow absent mindedly whittled a twig with a pocket knife he had retrieved from Diaz.

"Oh no, of course not. I'm sure I'm not that intimidating. But Merlyn is, isn't he? Very scary, yes. In fact, he's even more likely to kill you know considering you just foolishly revealed that you know where our allies are being held. We have _mind-readers_ , you know. Merlyn simply can't count on you, can he?"

The Dragon's eyes widened, this time in genuine fear.

"I – you can't do this, he'll kill me! He has people, you know, people everywhere. The D.A., a few police, local thugs, even supervillains! I can't escape!"

"Oh no, you can't. But don't worry, I have a secure prison for you – a prison Merlyn doesn't even know exists. And don't worry, I know of D.A. Armand's treachery – and so do the cops. You can find him in the Star City jail during visiting hours, as well as all the dirty cops. But back to your safety. I have this high tech Arrowplane that could get you to that secure prison in mere hours – Merlyn wouldn't be able to track you. All you need to do is tell me right now where the captured heroes are, as well as where Merlyn is hiding. _Or_ I could send you to the county jail with a full SWAT escort and wait for Martian Manhunter to arrive. I'm sure a SWAT team is sufficient to provide safety from a trained assassin and several metahumans, no? You'll also be waiting a while – Manhunter is on Mars, doing Martian things. It's very important to him, but he'll be back in 35-64 business days. I'm sure you'll be safe for that long, won't you?"

"Okay, I'll talk!"

The Dragon was sweating up a storm this time, and he looked like he was going to cry.

"Merlyn is hiding in a warehouse on Broadway and Main in the Warehouse District with Deathstroke. He's appointed villains to each neighborhood, they're in charge of local operations. Here's the list of criminals, their district, and where they're based out of. As for the heroes, I don't actually know where they are, but I heard Merlyn talking about Santa Prisca or Corto Maltese or whatever, but I'm not su- "

Before he finished a bullet penetrated his head, and he violently jerked before lifelessly slumping to the ground. Green Arrow looked up in alarm, but there was nothing there. The killer had vanished. Green Arrow growled, and kicked the corpse's side in frustration.

"Damn it! I had something! Ah, forget it. He didn't know much anyways."

As he said this Arsenal, Speedy and Red Arrow emerged from an alley.

"Is that The Dragon? What happened to him?"

"Assassin. Before he died I managed to get a list of criminals and their hideouts. How'd the lead go?"

"Good. We got lucky and bagged both gangs, even their leadership. It was all out. We even got the Spooky Crew, who were pulling a job near the war zone."

"At least there's some good news. Hey, where's Arrowette?"

"That's the thing – we don't know."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter six, everyone. Now I won't be posting as much as usual anymore, summer's over. My old schedule was every Wednesday or maybe Thursday, but my current schedule is every weekend. Maybe every two weekends. We'll see where it goes. Oh yes, and my Arrow family right now consists of Arsenal/Roy Harper, Speedy/Mia Dearden, and Red Arrow/Emiko Queen. I'm aware Roy's been all three of these, so it's confusing.**_

"What do you MEAN you don't know where Arrowette is?! You had one job, damn it, one job. How the hell did Arrowette get _kidnapped_ _from under your noses_? You're superheroes, not some fifteen-year-old babysitter!"

Arsenal shifted impatiently and nervously, waiting for Green Arrow to finish his tirade.

"Listen, Ollie, I don't know where she is! We split up, and then she was gone by the time I got done with the gangs. But we bagged another supervillain, so maybe he'll know where the captured heroes are?"

Red Arrow dragged a body out into the open, tied up and gagged. She violently ripped the gag off, causing the villain to cry out in shock. Green Arrow looked at him before thinking for a second, seemingly confused.

"Red Dart? Jeez, they'll really take anyone these days, won't they? Well bad luck for you, pal – the less important you are, the less people care about you."

The Blur zoomed over, nearly giving Speedy a heart attack.

"Green Arrow, hurry! There's been a break-in at Star City Bank, and I think there's a high-profile villain behind this one – the pattern is unusual. These criminals must be looking for something specific – it's not like they don't have enough money or something."

Green Arrow nodded and turned to give orders to the rest of the heroes.

"Black Canary, Speedy, Red Arrow, patrol the area. Stay in groups. We need to take this part of Star City before we get the next, and we've been looking to clean out the Glades anyway. If you see any of the other heroes, tell them to take control of the East Side before we move on. So anyways blur, why don't we get a move-on and get over to that ba- oh…. You're going to pick me up, aren't you?"

The Blur nodded. Green Arrow kicked Red Dart in the side before begrudgingly and annoyedly allowing The Blur to pick him up and carry him away. Arsenal, now alone, turned towards Red Dart and pinned him up against a wall, snarling as he punched and beat the villain.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time now, Jonas. People like you don't deserve the mercy I'm going to give you. Now I will ask you very clearly: Where is Arrowette?"

Red Dart winced in pain, but refused to say anything. A few ribs were broken, and his right eye was puffing up.

"Come on, Jonas, don't make this any harder than it should be. Where is Arrowette? Where are the kidnapped heroes?"

Red Dart once again refused to say anything, yelping as Arsenal broke his nose.

"DAMN IT JONAS, WHERE IS ARROWETTE?! WHERE IS SHE?"

Arsenal drove fist after fist into Red Dart's face or chest or legs or arm, using him as a punching bag but also maintaining enough awareness to refrain from landing a killing blow. Finally, Red Dart snapped and talked, barely remaining conscious.

"I… I dun… I don't…know… They don't tell me stuff like that… I just know we put her on a… on a convoy headed for National City… it's going to be on the Interstate 5 heading down towards California through Oregon… You picked me up an hour ago, maybe? They'll have left half an hour ago, so you guys better set some sentries or something, just please don't punch me anymore…"

Arsenal, calmed down and out of breath, let Red Dart drop to the ground and continued questioning him.

"Who all is in the convoy, Jonas? What does it look like?"

"The convoy is a line of five stolen Aramark delivery trucks. They all have black arrows painted on the bottom left corner. And I don't know who's in them, only that Arrowette kid and three others. All three of the other kids had some electric powers maybe? I'm not sure, that's just what I saw. But I don't know anything else, I swear!"

Arsenal knocked him out before leaving him to the cops, and furrowing his brow into a frown. He could feel something coming, he just didn't know what…

 **The Oblivion Bar, in the middle of nowhere. Like, literally nowhere. A pocket dimension.**

"Buh… Bartender? Beer? Ugh… more b-beer p-please."

Nightmaster walked over, a stern look on his face.

"John, I said no more beer. When I say no more beer, I mean no more beer! I mean look at you, you're drunker than my uncle at my cousin's bachelor party! Go waste your time talking gibberish to Chimp over there. I'm serving customers."

A chimpanzee wearing a detective outfit looked over at the two confusedly, also very drunk. He then promptly decided to ignore them and fell off his chair. Constantine looked at Nightmaster with the most skeptical face a drunkard can muster.

"Come on mate… another cup… I swear I won't be teleporting under the influence or anything, I promise! I'm sure that fine bloke over there will help me get home!"

As he finished his sentence, "that fine bloke over there" stood up and teleported away. Nightmaster looked at John with a face full of both annoyance and skepticism.

"Listen John, I'd believe you, but last time you said that you accidentally teleported into Kim Kardashian's bed! While she was _awake_!"

"Oh yeah, I did, didn't I? It's ok, she didn't mind. A real slut, that one, no gag reflex…. I bent her over and ploughed her like there was no tomorrow right in her wedding bed and she found it hot – hey, are you giving me that beer or not, Jim?"

Nightmaster sighed and turned away. He chanted a little spell and Constantine found himself suddenly in his bed in Liverpool, _not_ a bar in a pocket dimension.

"Oh, bollocks. Well, I guess the man really is as stubborn as they say. I'll just pay Kim Kardashian another visit tomorrow or something. Hey look, Zee sent me a message… I wonder if she's finally feeling up to taking off those fishnets and panties for me yet… hmm, let me read this. "John, emergency. Attack on Hall of Justice. Need you now. Nightshade is comatose, Lagoon Boy is dead, Jason Blood is unconscious." Wow, seems important. Oh bollocks, I really thought I would get a full night's sleep tonight or something…"


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, I've been extremely busy. I'll try to keep it up at one per week, but no promises. I'm also trying a more descriptive writing style, so hit me up with your criticisms.**_

"Ugh… I'm not up for this at this hour. Couldn't you have called a heavy hitter or something?"

John Constantine lay at the foot of the large statue in the reception room of the Hall of Justice. The bodies of villains and heroes lay scattered around the room, and a small contingent of heroes was fighting for survival against a large group of villains.

"Solomon Grundy… BORN ON A MONDAY!"

"Dnib!"

Solomon Grundy suddenly became encased in steel wires, temporarily incapacitating him.

"Born on a-"

"Peels."

Solomon Grundy started snoring loudly, and he suddenly disappeared as Zatanna sauntered over with her magic wand, casting spells left and right.

"Laeh."

Constantine felt his piercing headache slow down, and he felt one of his ribs heal.

"Thanks, love. Was feeling a bit woozy there. Watch your left!"

Zatanna dodged just in time to avoid a blast from Captain Cold.

"Taeh-"

"Oh no you don't, love. We've got other plans for you."

Zatanna yelped in surprise as Captain Boomerang muffled her mouth with his hand. Before he could stab her with one of his boomerangs, Constantine managed to kick him in the crotch.

"Gah! Why you piece of-"

"Say again, Boomerang?"

Captain Boomerang flew across the room and into a wall. The vibrating visage of The Flash, barely visible, stood over Constantine.

"Watch out, John. You aren't exactly the most versatile here. Would love to stay and fight, but duty calls. See you guys later."

Flash zoomed off, leaving a surprised and slightly irritated Constantine. Over on the other side of the room, Firestorm delivered a powerful energy blast straight into Deadline's chest, smashing him against the floor.

"Why that stuck up piece of… Oh hey, Ronnie, nice job. Looks like we're done here, eh, Zee?"

"Yes, John, I would think so. Erotser."

As Zatanna said that, the damage to the room suddenly reversed. The bullet holes in the walls disappeared, overturned furniture reset itself, and the floor swept itself for good measure.

"So do you wanna go back to my place, or…"

"Not now, John. I gotta phone the rest of the magic division. Before the villains attacked, I noticed a large magical disturbance near here. They have a powerful magic user transporting them, and I think I might know who. Give me a sec, I'll be back."

 **A base on a small deserted island, Micronesia.**

"A fine addition to our collection, don't you think, Gorilla Grodd?"

"Heh. Our collection grows by the day, Luthor. Hard not to be impressed. But remember, every new hero we capture, the more the heroes look for us. My spies report that Arsenal has caught wind of our trafficking experiments. He managed to break out Arrowette, Lightning, and Thunder the other day."

"Of course, Grodd. You didn't think that wouldn't happen, did you? They'll save a few, of course. But we still got one, when we otherwise would have got zero. Those hero types run around all day, we'll just catch them again. But do you want to see our latest trophy?"

Before Grodd could give a response, Luthor snapped his fingers. Two thugs came around the corner, carrying a large bag. They dumped a tied-up body onto the ground.

"Meet Virgil Hawkes, AKA Static. He was on a separate convoy when Arsenal hit our trucks. We've created an electricity-resistant containment unit – see through, of course – that should be able to contain him as well as show him off."

"I'm impressed. Come on, let's lock him up."

Grodd and Luthor carried Static's bound body inside the compound, closing the door behind them. They walked past a series of containers, from a tiny box to what looked like an aviary. Luthor untied Static, and Grodd threw him into his cell. As he began to stir, Luthor watched from behind the one-way glass.

"Almost time, almost time indeed…"


End file.
